Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith might have to share their seats as the kings of Canadian poker players. Dave Wong, a software engineer from St. Johns, Newfoundland, is taking his shot at the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event today. Currently residing in Silicon Valley in California, we can expect Wong's strongest play to be in the Limit category.
"Limit Hold'em is my bread and butter," said Wong. "I like No Limit, too, but I'm more proficient in Limit."
Wong won his seat into the most expensive event at the 2006 WSOP via Party Poker. He had to win two levels to get here. In the first event, there were 3,500 players with the top 50 moving on. In the second level 3,000 more players tried out for twenty paying spots. Players that finished 11-20th won a $2,000 seat in the WSOP, those that finished 2nd-10th won a seat into the main event, and the first place spot got a seat into the drool-worthy H.O.R.S.E. event.
When I asked him about his strategy for today's big game, Wong was nothing but humble. "There are a lot of world class players in this event, so I just hope to run good." said Wong.
Rest assured Wong is no newbie to tournament poker. He plays regularly in local California card rooms, as well as online, and even made it to two WPT events. His first WPT experience was in the 2004 Aruba tourney, and most recently in the 2006 Bay 101 Shooting Stars.
If you're in town, he started off at table 132.
Wong will be out in Vegas for three weeks with his wife cheering him on from home in California. He'll also be playing in events 20-24 and 39-45 before the Series ends. I'll be checking in with him later today, but you can follow along with Dave's entire summer in Vegas as well as his other poker journeys on his blog, Donkey Hunter. Good luck, Dave!
